Browns Chudzinski looking to make amends for crushing 2007 loss in Cincinnati

Tuesday

Nov 12, 2013 at 12:47 AM

Rob Chudzinski understands that opportunities like the one in Cincinnati on Sunday can’t be taken for granted. In fact, missing out on a similar chance still sticks in his craw. The Browns head for Cincinnati in their first real playoff race since 2007. That year, with Chudzinski as offensive coordinator, they needed only to win at Paul Brown Stadium two days before Christmas to clinch a playoff spot. The Browns were 9-5, the Bengals 5-9. The painful price for a 19-14 loss was a postseason spot.

BY Steve DoerschukRepository sports writer

Rob Chudzinski has been to the mountain top, but never in the pros.

He was the starting tight end for the 1989 Miami Hurricanes, mostly blocking in front of quarterback Craig Erickson but also catching 20 passes. The ’89 Hurricanes beat No. 1 Notre Dame in a regular-season finale and won a national championship by taking down Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

“Chud” never played pro ball, but he has spent the last 10 years bouncing around the NFL as a coach. He put in a year in Cleveland, two in San Diego, two more back in Cleveland, two more back in San Diego, two in Carolina, and now in Cleveland once again as head coach.

He dreams of taking the Browns to the heights, but he has learned the climb is hard.

There have been just two playoff games on his NFL ride. He and Marty Schottenheimer’s Chargers fell 24-21 to New England in 2006. He and Norv Turner’s Chargers fell 17-14 to Baltimore in 2009.

Chudzinski understands that opportunities like the one in Cincinnati on Sunday can’t be taken for granted. In fact, missing out on a similar chance still sticks in his craw.

The Browns head for Cincinnati in their first real playoff race since 2007. That year, with Chudzinski as offensive coordinator, they needed only to win at Paul Brown Stadium two days before Christmas to clinch a playoff spot.

The Browns were 9-5, the Bengals 5-9. The painful price for a 19-14 loss was a postseason spot.

“It’s one of those games you’ll always remember,” Chudzinski said Monday as his players returned from their bye week.

“Certainly that was a disappointment for us, and a disappointment for me.”

A week before going to Cincinnati in ’07, the Browns rode running back Jamal Lewis to an 8-0 win over Buffalo in a blizzard. At Cincinnati, Chudzinski turned to the air game amid icy gales whipping over the Ohio River.

Head coach Romeo Crennel got hammered for not using Lewis enough, although the big veteran did carry 21 times for 92 yards. Derek Anderson dropped back 50 times, completing 29 passes for 251 yards, but throwing four interceptions.

“We did what I felt like we needed to do,” Chudzinski says now — he called plays throughout the game, with Crennel focused more on defense.

The game began on an ominous note, with Phil Dawson not getting off a 39-yard field goal try because holder Dave Zastudil couldn’t handle the snap.

Anderson was intercepted twice in the final 90 seconds of the first half, at which point the Bengals led 19-0.

The Browns closed to within 19-14 with six minutes left and got the ball back just inside the two-minute warning.

They made it as far as the Cincinnati 29 with time for one last play, but Anderson’s final pass was close to no one.

The Browns’ time was up. They beat the 49ers in the season finale to finish at 10-6, but needed a later game to break their way to win a tie-breaker.

That didn’t happen, as the powerhouse Colts lost at home to Tennessee after quarterback Peyton Manning took an early seat. The Browns’ season was dead.

Sunday’s Browns-at-Bengals game passes as a fascinating sequel to 2007.

This time, the game falls earlier, and both teams are in the hunt. Cincinnati leads the AFC North at 6-4. The Browns and Ravens share second place in the division at 4-5, but it is one of those years when 4-5 is squarely in the hunt.

The Browns have stabilized in Jason Campbell’s two starts at quarterback, taking unbeaten Kansas City to the wire and beating Baltimore going into the bye.